The Queen blows soap bubbles, does not mind DIY and clears the table in Windsor Castle. Who would have thought it? For everyone, she – Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II – is synonymous with corgis, eccentric little hats and a life governed by protocol. Cementing this image of a queen stuck in her own formality was the 2006 film The Queen, which showed a sovereign frozen in tradition and unable to deal publically with the tragic death of her daughter-in-law.

But there’s more to it than that. The new biography Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch makes us completely rethink who Elizabeth II is. The book goes on sale from 10 January in bookshops in the USA and is also available online. The book’s author, Sally Bedell Smith, is an expert in telling the stories of other people’s lives and a few years ago researched Lady Diana’s life.

The story that Smith tells begins with the adolescent Elizabeth, when – barely a teenager struggling with first love – she already used to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the most formal occasions. It then follows year by year the long reign of a monarch who has been one of the most popular and talked-about in history. Elizabeth’s has certainly not been an easy life, but most of the personal aspects of it are not widely known.

It’s Sally Bedell Smith who has now attempted the task of revealing a Queen who is not just monarch of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth but also a woman coping with a family, a house and a private life all requiring attention.